Posts from — November 2007

I forget this trick every year, it seems. But I remembered in time for the last leaf raking of the year. The first thing you should know is that we collect and keep our leaves as mulch. (There are assets and liabilities to using leaves as mulch but they’re best discussed elsewhere.) I think the trouble comes because I keep thinking about leaves with the old fashioned mindset as something to throw away. What this means is that I usually end up collecting them in trash cans and then lugging the trash cans to the garden bed. This is difficult physical work, both the bending over to lift the leaves into the cans as well as carrying the leaf-full cans.

But if you’re going to spread the leaves immediately on your garden beds, then there’s no need to use a trash can at all. Use a tarp. Rake the leaves into a pile as usual, then rake them onto the tarp. Roll the tarp up like a big burrito and it’s ready to move. It’s easiest if you’ve got a partner to grab the other end but as long as there isn’t much wind, you can just pull the tarp along behind you.

We left raking the final batch of leaves until tonight, until the final moments of daylight for that matter. But using a tarp for collection helped us finish up in very short order. Just in time too. About an hour after sundown, a gentle snow started to fall.

Just a little over a year ago, this is how the re-birth of our garden began, that is, with destruction. We had this wonderful old carriage barn that had a dirt floor that was damp year round, sagging timbers and a gentle lean that increased year by year. We decided to make the painful choice of taking it down ourselves so we could salvage as much of the cool weathered barn wood as possible. This is a movie we made of the last few moments of that task.

Upon getting in the backseat of our Honda Civic just the other day, a friend inquired, “What’s with the straw?” He must have noticed the bit and pieces stuck to the blue seats.

I explained the situation. Jim and I had gone to the Dexter Mill to purchase straw for fall mulching in the garden. I swore that two bales would fit in the trunk of the car, even though it is a small car. Jim thought only one would. We bought two. When we drove around to the shed to pick up the straw, it became immediately obvious that Jim was right: only one would fit in the trunk. The other was transported home in the backseat of the car.

Some people might be in a hurry to get the stray straw threads out of the backseat of their car, but I think it adds a certain country character.

The real fun with the straw began in the garden. A thick layer of straw on the round center bed will begin to breakdown over the winter and add more organic matter into our soil. When we first spread the straw out, it was bright and golden. This view doesn’t quite capture the shiny factor. On a sunny day, the sun really bounced off the fresh straw. Even on cloudy days, the change in the landscape is striking.

Two bales really don’t cover much. Luckily we scored 5 more bales left over from my brother’s hayride. Fortunately for our car and backseat passengers, he delivered it.

And more fun was had. We were able to cover most of the remaining beds.

We even had some helpers.

Our littlest helper discovered that straw, like just everything else, tastes good.